ARMENIA HALTS RATIFICATION OF TURKEY PEACE DEAL
New York Times
APril 22 2010
YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia on Thursday suspended ratification of
peace accords with Turkey, setting back to square one U.S.-backed
efforts to bury a century of hostility between the neighbours.
Christian Armenia and Muslim Turkey signed accords in October last
year to establish diplomatic relations and open their land border,
trying to overcome the legacy of the World War One mass killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
But the process was already deadlocked before Thursday’s decision,
with each side accusing the other of trying to re-write the texts
and setting new conditions.
Neither parliament has approved the deal, which would bring huge
economic gains for poor, landlocked Armenia, burnish Turkey’s
credentials as an EU candidate and boost its clout in the strategic
South Caucasus.
Analysts said the Armenian decision, two days before the 95th
anniversary of the killings, was not the end of the road, but an
attempt to increase pressure on Turkey.
Armenia was angered by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan saying
that ratification would depend on Armenia reaching terms with
Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close ally and energy trading partner, over the
disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We have decided … not to exit the process for the time being,
but rather, to suspend the procedure of ratifying the protocols. We
believe this to be in the best interests of our nation," Armenian
President Serzh Sarksyan said.
He said in an address to the nation that Armenia would keep its
signature to the accords "because we desire peace."
"… We shall consider moving forward when we are convinced that there
is a proper environment in Turkey and there is a leadership in Ankara
ready to re-engage in the normalisation process."
Erdogan said in Ankara Turkey remained committed to the process. "We
have frequently expressed our commitment to the protocols in word
and in spirit and our goal to fulfil them."
But he gave no sign that he would withdraw the condition that Armenia
and Azerbaijan reach a deal on Nagorno-Karabakh, something that has
evaded mediators for more than 15 years.
"We have expressed clearly, to all parties concerned, our intention
to achieve comprehensive peace in the region."
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey said Washington hoped the
process would continue but added it was up to Ankara and Yerevan to
end their differences.
OBAMA STATEMENT
Analysts noted the wording of the Armenian decision was a suspension,
not a withdrawal.
"This was a lot weaker than feared," said Yerevan-based U.S. analyst
Richard Giragosian. "This is a political tactic rather than a shift
in strategic policy."
Both governments face opposition at home, and in Armenia’s case from
its huge diaspora, many of whom trace their roots to the World War
One killings and deportations.
Armenian opponents say the accords betray Armenian efforts to have
the massacres internationally recognised as genocide.
Turkish critics say the deal is a betrayal of fellow Turkic-speaking
Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter and one of the West’s key hopes
for gas for the planned Nabucco pipeline.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, when ethnic Armenians
backed by Armenia threw off Azeri rule with the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
Azerbaijan says the frontier must stay shut until ethnic Armenian
forces pull back, and has lashed out at Washington for backing
the thaw.
Armenia’s decision came as the country of 3.2 million approaches the
April 24th anniversary of the killings, when tens of thousands lay
flowers at a hilltop monument in the capital.
U.S. President Barack Obama will issue a statement to mark the
anniversary of the massacres, a defining element of Armenian national
identity and a thorn in the side of modern Turkey.
Muslim Turkey accepts many Christian Armenians died in partisan
fighting beginning in 1915 but denies that up to 1.5 million were
killed and that it amounted to genocide — a term used by some Western
historians and foreign parliaments.
Armenians are again pressing Obama to fulfil a campaign pledge to
label the killings as genocide, something he appears unlikely to do
for fear of alienating NATO-member Turkey.